Some Aspects of the Solar Radiation Incident at the Top of the Atmospheres of Mercury and Venus

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Authors
Van Hemelrijck, E.
Vercheval, J.
Discipline
Physical sciences
Audience
Scientific
Date
1981Metadata
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A formalism has been developed for the calculation of the insolation on the planets Mercury and Venus neglecting any atmospheric absorption. For Mercury, the instantaneous insolation curves are repeated in a 2-tropical year cycle, the distribution of the solar radiation being perfectly symmetric between both hemispheres. In addition to latitudinal variations, one observes a longitudinal effect expressed by different instantaneous insolation distributions during the course of the time; on the equator, the relative diurnal insolation variability may attain a factor of 3. The small obliquity of Venus results in a nearly symmetric solar radiation distributions with respect to the equator except at the poles, where an important seasonal effect has been found. It has to be noted that no longitudinal dependence exists. Finally, the insolation curves are repeated in a nearly half-year cycle.
Citation
Van Hemelrijck, E.; Vercheval, J. (1981). Some Aspects of the Solar Radiation Incident at the Top of the Atmospheres of Mercury and Venus. , Icarus, Vol. 48, Issue 2, 167-179, DOI: 10.1016/0019-1035(81)90102-0.Identifiers
scopus: 2-s2.0-49049145424
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng